This election year, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have each made unique contributions to debate fashion. In a most obvious and general sense, Clinton’s historic candidacy put an end to the whole man-in-a-suit-and-tie archetype. In wearing red in the first debate, she also became the first candidate to debate in a suit color other than dark blue or gray. Trump, meanwhile, has given us the most shiny – and comically long – ties in debate history.

Plenty of other candidates have left their own unique mark. Gerald Ford is the only candidate to debate in a three-piece suit. Ronald Reagan is the only one to wear a pocket square. You wonder how long it will be before we see either again, given both run the risk of being perceived as too debonair.

Jimmy Carter takes home the award for the most surprising fashion choice in debate history. After sitting out the first debate in 1980, the incumbent roared onto the stage with Ronald Reagan wearing – wait for it – a collar bar, which Gentleman’s Gazette tells us was famously donned by Fred Astaire in the 1920s and 1930s, actor Paul Muni in the original Scarface (1932), and Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987).

George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot win the prize for most coordinated, as the trio damn near wore the same tie during their second debate in 1992.

Finally, the “never throw away your old ties” award goes to John Anderson, the Independent candidate in 1980. (As my old boss used to tell me, ties get thick, they get thin, ties get long, they get short, knots grow, knots shrink, so you never know when an old tie will be back in style.) Call it a stretch, but I see a tie pattern, knot, and width on Anderson that could play today, plus a pair of glasses that might speak to the Warby Parker crowd.

Here's hoping that in future elections, political civility and meaningful debate ​​also come full circle.